"The Battle For The Gate (Part
2)"

Immediately, phaser blasts were flying
toward the fighters. Tyran quickly got up and ran toward Kira's position as
fast as he could. The tanks were coming up from behind, so he had to be quick.

Will and Kira were locked in a battle
with the pirates... neither side was making any progress. Tyran joined them
in a grenade crater. "Kira...," started Tyran, catching his breath.
"Tanks...," he said, pointing behind him.

Kira turned his attention away from
the battle and looked around to see the tanks coming at them. He quickly put
up a shield around the three of them as the first shell was fired.

"Great, this is just what we
need," he said as he got up. He stood with his arm outstretched focusing
his energy. A blue ball formed at the end of his hand and fired, completely
destroying the first tank.

"Where on Earth could they have
got tanks from?" yelled Will over the growing noise.

"I have no idea Doc," answered
Tyran as Kira fired another blast, this one missing.

"Kira, will you be Okay with
the tanks?"

"We'll see...."

"Will and I will have to take
some of this heat of your back," said Tyran, slotting a new power cell
into his rifle. Hancock and Tyran opened fire on the pirates, who had had a
minute or so to regroup.

"What's that?" asked Hancock
between shots.

"What's what?"

"That. Coming out of the trees."

Tyran smiled, "That's our back
up, Doc."

Meanwhile, Ryan was wandering through
dark empty tunnels. He'd lost the pirate Captain soon after he'd become separated
from the rest of his group. The sounds of explosions could still be faintly
heard through the walls of the tunnels; the battle was still raging fiercely
outside. He found himself fearing even more now for Karissa. Up ahead he saw
a light. He pulled out his tricorder as he walked further into a huge cavern.
It was not hard to see where the light was coming from. Against the far wall
was a large arch-type structure with the image of a large city inside it. This
image quickly shifted to that of a different city.

"I've found it," he whispered.

He walked nearer, scanning it with
his tricorder.

"Human, you will never have
it!" came a snarling, growling voice from behind him. Ryan new it was the
pirate captain, and that this was it.... This was the fight for the gate. He
turned around and looked the massive Nausicaan in the eye. The Nausicaan threw
down his weapon and took a fighting stance. Ryan took off his backpack and placed
his tricorder and phaser with his backpack.

He walked up to the Nausicaan and
took a fighting stance of his own.

"Bring it on," he said.

The monkey men were fighting as valiantly
as they could as they threw rocks and spears at the pirates. They provided distractions
as they helped the Starfleet officers in their fight.

Karissa easily jumped over one pirate
that charged her. As she landed, she grabbed his neck and snapped it with ease
as another came at her. She kicked him and sent him flying. As he came at her
again, she swiftly moved around him, grabbed his neck and snapped it. She took
out three more in similar fashion.

Finally, she made her way to the
cave opening, and without hindrance, she entered. No one saw her. No one followed.
She sensed Ryan and his exhilaration. She knew he must have found the gate.
But then something changed. She had to get to him! She pulled out her tricorder
and followed the readings, hoping to reach him quickly.

With the monkeys completely overwhelming
the pirates, Tyran and Will got up. Kira was starting to look a bit tired.

"Keep us covered Kira -- we're
going in," said Tyran as he and Will ran off toward the tanks.

Overhead, they heard a large explosion.
One of the fighters had finally been hit and spiraled out of control somewhere
in the forest. The other came on a strafing run at Tyran and Will as they ran
and fired a burst of phasers at them.

Will pulled himself up, coughing
on the dirt that had been thrown over them. He rolled Tyran over, but he was
unconscious. He hurriedly removed his pack and pulled out his med kit as the
fighter swung about ready to perform another run.

As it came in low, it blew up as
it was hit from the roof turret. It spiraled down, knocking Will over from the
turbulence and crashed into a tank. Will got back up and back to work. He prepared
a hypospray and injected Tyran with it. Tyran opened his eyes.

"Come on, move it," ordered
Will. He pulled Tyran up and away, just as a shell from one of the tanks landed
on their position. "That was a close one, Commander," he said.

The final fighter fired a few shots
at the complex now, trying to take Tricia out in the gun turret. It missed and
blew holes in the wall. Tricia didn't miss though, as a stream of phaser beams
hit the fighter dead on. The fighter burst into flames and dipped, crashing
straight into the gun turret.

Tyran shut his eyes and looked away.
He shouldn't have left her there.... not on her own. He opened them again though
and saw a small figure climbing down the rope he had left there from when he
had slid down himself.

"Thank the prophets," he
said.

He and Will sat there as Kira blasted
the last of the tanks into pieces. When Tricia joined them, they got up and
headed back to the battle with the pirates. Benton and the others had now made
it out of the complex and were firing from the entrance way at the remaining
pirates.

As the last pirate fell, a cheer
went up from the *Ronin's* crew. The monkeys started jumping up and down hysterically,
screaming at the top of their lungs again, drowning out the sound of the *Ronin's*
crew.

Ryan ducked another blow, and another,
and another. He'd barely landed a punch on the Nausicaan through his never-ending
ferocious attacks. He knew he had to win though.... so much was counting on
this. Ryan ducked and punched the Nausicaan as hard as he could in the stomach.
The Nausicaan smiled and looked down on Ryan. He picked him up by the throat
and threw him ten feet across the cavern. Ryan struggled up as the Nausicaan
began striding up to him. He quickly swept the Nausicaan's legs from under him
and sent him flying to the ground. Ryan pulled himself up quickly and gave the
Nausicaan a few kicks to the ribs. This was no time to worry about fighting
nice. Although the Nausicaan was now feeling some discomfort, Ryan wasn't making
much headway as the Nausicaan grabbed Ryan's leg and pulled him to the floor
as well.

Ryan sat up as quickly as he could,
but the Nausicaan was on his feet already and picked Ryan up by his tunic. He
lifted Ryan into the air a good four feet. He slammed Ryan against a glass window,
part of some kind of decontamination area. Ryan was at the perfect height and
gave the Nausicaan a swift kick to the groin. Ryan fell to the ground and rolled
through the Nausicaan's legs. He followed through with a kidney punch... well,
what he thought was a kidney punch. For all he knew, the Nausicaan may not have
had any kidneys. The Nausicaan regained himself and spun around giving Ryan
a strong right hook. Ryan hit the ground hard. He pulled himself up and wiped
the blood from his forehead. The Nausicaan came at him again, but from behind
the Nausicaan, he could make out a figure entering the decontamination area.

"Karissa!" he shouted,
as he ducked the Nausicaan's punch.

"Ryan!!" Karissa screamed
as she watched him take another blow he couldn't quite avoid. She pounded on
the glass with all the strength she had in her, only it wouldn't give. She wasn't
about to give up. She was going to find a way through and into that room.

Ryan pulled himself up again. "Karissa!
Go through the decontamination cycle!" Ryan ducked a punch and landed one
of his own on the Nausicaan's jaw. "You'll be able to get in here if you
go through the cycle!" Ryan spun around behind the Nausicaan and kicked
him in the back of the knee. The Nausicaan fell and Ryan took him in a headlock.

"Okay!" she replied as
she watched. She looked around quickly seeing a control panel. As she looked
it over, she started the decon sequence. First, the entryway sealed. For a moment,
fear went into her dark eyes as if she were a trapped animal. Then a heavy white
mist began falling from the ceiling. It had a strong, pungent odor. The whole
time, she wouldn't take her eyes off the fight, willing the cycle to complete
swiftly, so that she could get out there and help Ryan.

Ryan tried to snap the Nausicaan's
neck, but before he could, it had grabbed him and flung him back to the ground.
He followed through with an elbow. Ryan cried out in pain as he heard a rib
snap. "You're going to be sorry when she gets through there, Nausicaan,"
choked Ryan. The Nausicaan picked him up again and threw him again.

"I've waited a long time to
kill a Starfleet Captain," snarled the Nausicaan. "And I get to kill
his bitch too!"

This wasn't a game any longer. Ryan
put the pain out of his mind and stood up. He pounded the Nausicaan, time and
time again, jabbing him in the throat and face.

"You'll be sorry you ever uttered
those words, you Nausicaan bastard!" He glanced over and saw Karissa was
heading into the second stage of decontamination. *Almost here,* thought Ryan.
*Another minute or so.*

Karissa paced like a tiger in a cage
against the glass as she continued to watch Ryan and the Nausicaan. She wanted
to be in there! The decon time was almost up. She knew it, as the mist was almost
gone. The blue lighting was starting to change back to normal color as well,
and that was the last phase. *Faster, this has to go faster...,* she thought,
as she watched helplessly. Suddenly, the light returned to normal. The glass
began to inch up, but ever so slowly.

"She isn't bad for a human.
After I kill you, I shall have my way with her, before I kill her too."

Ryan screamed and slammed the Nausicaan
to the ground. "Shut up! You just shut up now!" he screamed.

The Nausicaan smiled and pushed Ryan
off, and knocked him back. He then pulled a knife and plunged it into Ryan's
stomach. Ryan staggered backwards... toward the gate. The Nausicaan let out
an evil laugh and pushed Ryan through.

Karissa had just rolled under the
glass as she watched the knife plunge into Ryan and then him disappear through
the gate. "NO!!!!" she screamed, tears leaping into her dark eyes.

"Poor little human female,"
the Nausicaan pirate sneered. "You will join him soon enough." He
brandished the knife still stained with Ryan's blood.

Something went into Karissa's eyes,
as she looked at the Nausicaan. She leapt to her feet with ease and ran at him.
He had never witnessed a human move so fast. She then landed blow after blow
to his face, his chest, his back.... He tried to use the knife against her,
only it was as if he were trying to fight a wraith. Suddenly, he felt the knife
as it pierced his own chest. He immediately crumbled to the ground in surprised
pain. His breath was becoming shallow. She knelt above him, tears in her dark
angry eyes.

"What are you?" he hissed
out, knowing only now, she was not human.

"Your death," she said,
as she thought about how he had killed Ryan. She watched as the Naussicaan took
his last gargled breath. With that, she hunched over and sobbed.

"Karissa!" called Tyran
as he walked up to her, with a slightly battleworn Kira and Pike alongside.
"We were wondering where you'd gotten to. We won the battle. The gate's
ours," he announced triumphantly. It was as he got closer, he noticed her
shaking and her tears. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Another sob escaped her. "Ryan....
He was stabbed... and... and pushed through the gate.... He did it," was
all she said as she motioned to the dead body beside her. "Ryan's gone...."